History of Moncton - Acadian Settlement

Acadian Settlement

The head of the Bay of Fundy was first settled by French Acadians in the 1670s. Early settlement was centered on the region of the Tantramar Marshes but there was gradual expansion of the settled areas towards the west during the succeeding decades. The first reference to the "Petcoucoyer River" was on the de Meulles Map of 1686. The Chipodie Acadian settlement was established at the mouth of the Petitcodiac River in 1700. Settlement then gradually extended up the Petitcodiac and Memramcook River valleys, finally reaching the site of present day Moncton (50 km inland) in 1733. The first Acadians settlers at Moncton established a marshland farming community and named it Le Coude (The Elbow).

In 1755, the Petitcodiac River valley fell under British control after the capture of nearby Fort Beauséjour by forces under the command of Lt. Col. Robert Monckton. This was one of the first actions of the Seven Years' War. The Acadian population of the region was deported later that year by order of Nova Scotia Governor Charles Lawrence but some of the inhabitants of the Petitcodiac and Memramcook valleys were able to escape into the woods and, under the leadership of Joseph Broussard, sustained guerilla warfare against the British occupiers until 1758 when Broussard was wounded in action. The Acadian settlement of Le Coude subsequently remained empty until after the end of the Seven Years' War.